Until Morning
by freeze1
Summary: A short, sweet moment between Van and Hitomi. ^_^ R/R please!


A/N: After watching Escaflowne in two sittings *with a five hour sleeping break in between*, I just HAD to write some Van/Hitomi fanfiction. I just had to. For anyone who hasn't seen Escaflowne, SEE IT! *Even though I don't really understand why you'd BE here if you hadn't seen it...but oh well*. I wrote this a while ago, and I was looking over it today and decided what the heck, I ought to post it. I'm rather fond of it. Not my best work...but it captures the essence of Escaflowne pretty well. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. Simple as that. 

**Until Morning**

"Kire…" The voice was lifted by the breeze as it brushed the grass, creating a carpet of green tinted gray by the absents of sun. 

"It must be so beautiful up there…" The fabric blew about, lifting itself from her legs and then falling back once the wind had past. Her arms were sheltered by the large sweatshirt, while her hands lay, bristled from the grass and stung by the air. 

"Not especially." The voice was soft and quiet, and she closed her eyes, shielding them from the stars, letting the voice sweep over her mind. She felt a whisp of short, auburn hair hit her cheek, then fall down back into the grass. 

"It feels like heaven is all around me," she whispered, a smile playing apon her face. 

"Maybe…" She sighed, inhaling the fresh scent of the field, of the grass and the flowers. 

"Tell me what Earth looks like." She could hear him sigh in an amused way. 

"You can see what it looks like a lot better than I can." 

"Please?" She felt warm all over all of a sudden. She could feel it, he was smiling. 

"All right," he whispered, his voice echoing within her mind. "It looks amazing, swirled with water, land and clouds. Like something out of one of those books I was read when I was a child." 

"Tell me?" The breeze rustled through the trees, shaking some leaves off of the branches. 

"They weren't very interesting stories, you know." She smiled to herself. 

"Were they of foreign places, knights, castles, and other things like that?" He laughed a bit, and she felt a warm wind wash all over her. 

"You sound so amazed, but the truth is that here, those things are normality. Most were about things like Atlantis." She felt her hand come in contact with a flower. 

"What does Gaea look like?" She asked quietly. 

"Like it did when you left. Except better." She chuckled. 

"Wonderful description." She felt the flower beneath her fingertips, feeling the soft, smooth petals. 

"Merle misses you." She smiled at that. 

"Tell her that I miss her, too. Why, I can't even look at cats in cages now adays, just thinking about her." 

"Allen also sends his regards." She giggled, feeling the grass tickle her fingers. 

"Don't sound so impatient," she reprimanded. "Please tell him that I miss him, and hope that he is doing well." There was a sort of quiet snort, which only caused her to laugh more. 

"Oh, Van…" She squeezed her thumb and first finger together, popping the stem of the flower with one snap. 

"Millerna-hime also wishes you to be happy," he said, a sparkle to his voice. 

"How is she?" 

"Fairing well, I suppose. Dryden is set to come back within a month time." She smiled, twirling the flower around in her hand. 

"That's good. I miss her a lot, too." She paused for a moment. 

"I miss you more." There was a long silence, and she smiled, opening her eyes towards the sparkeling heavens. 

"What's it like for you, Van?" She whispered. 

"It's not much, I guess. Rebuilding a country, helping the people, sure it's hard, but I'm managing." She sighed. 

"That's good." 

"And you? How are you doing?" She smiled, bringing the flower up to her nose and inhaling the rich scent. 

"You probably wouldn't understand much of it," She said, laughing a bit. "What with schoolwork, track and all. It's hard, but I'll pull through it." 

"That's good." There was a long silence. 

"Van, I miss you…" She let her head fall to one side, staring sideways across the open field. 

"I miss you too, Hitomi." His voice was sad, yet comforting in a way. 

"We're millions of miles apart…but talking to you like this makes me feel like you're right beside me." 

"Me too." And as if on cue, a figure began to materialize on the grass next to her. A boy with raven blue hair was lying on his back, a red tunic flapping in the wind and a sword by his side. His head was turned and he was facing her, his auburn eyes, staring into hers. And yet his body was translucent; if she stared hard enough she could see right through him. 

"Van…" He smiled weakly. 

"Van, will you stay here until morning?" His smile didn't falter, and he nodded. 

"I…I mean, you're a king, and it's probably too much to ask, and I should get back and study, I am about 5 cities outside of Tokyo, but…" He shook his head slightly. 

"I'll stay here if you want me too. For tonight." She smiled, reaching out her hand to where his laid on the ground. And though instead of feeling the fabric of his glove, her hand feel through to the grass, she could still feel warmth flood her body, and she knew that he was there. 

A/N: Well, that's it! I don't usually write for Escaflowne, but I was really tempted to do this, and it kinda spat itself out. Don't be expecting much more Escaflowne from me, though. ^_~ 


End file.
